After Cruz stepped off the dais, it was as if he had suddenly been transformed from a politician they’d seen only on Fox News to a confidant of Iowa’s preaching elite. Pastors laid their hands on his shoulders as a prayerful gesture. Cruz aides Johnson and Drogin, standing aside, looked startled by the rapturous reception; they’ve seen their boss rock conservative audiences before, but they expected Iowans to be cagey.

“It was impressive,” says Bob Vander Plaats, the president of The Family Leader, an Iowa-based conservative group. “I believe if he keeps leading the way he’s leading, he’d quickly narrow the field, just by his presence, should he decide to run.” Steve Deace, a top Iowa radio talker, agrees: “I’m usually not that easily swayed, but Cruz was a force of nature,” he says…

Paul’s most rousing moment came when he brought up foreign policy. The pastors were on their feet when he said the U.S. should not give “one penny more” to any country that burns the American flag in the streets. “Congress responds by sending more of your money to these haters of Christianity?” he asked, incredulously. “It is time to put a stop to this madness!”

Following his 25-minute speech, Paul and his wife, Kelley, experienced a similar “laying on of the hands” by the pastors. Heads were bowed, a prayer was said, and attendees closed around him. “My faith is part of who I am,” Paul says, when I ask him whether it will feature prominently in his future campaigns. “I don’t tend to wear it on my sleeve, but it influences who I am, and it influences my worldview.”